Ameriflex Group Inc. Takes $531,000 Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 8,760 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $531,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 160.4% during the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on CSCO shares. Wall Street Zen raised Cisco Systems from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $68.00.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.0%

NASDAQ CSCO traded up $0.64 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $63.75. 17,422,554 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,322,613. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $59.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The stock has a market cap of $252.45 billion, a PE ratio of 27.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. The company had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.57%. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is 66.94%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 9,643 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total transaction of $612,330.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 181,186 shares in the company, valued at $11,505,311. This represents a 5.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 22,431 shares of company stock worth $1,421,356. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Company Profile

Cisco Systems, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells Internet Protocol based networking and other products related to the communications and information technology industry in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, Japan, and China. The company also offers switching portfolio encompasses campus switching as well as data center switching; enterprise routing portfolio interconnects public and private wireline and mobile networks, delivering highly secure, and reliable connectivity to campus, data center and branch networks; wireless products include wireless access points and controllers; and compute portfolio including the cisco unified computing system, hyperflex, and software management capabilities, which combine computing, networking, and storage infrastructure management and virtualization.